MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Increases Holdings in American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,885 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.’s holdings in American Water Works were worth $7,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Water Works in the 4th quarter valued at about $294,524,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in American Water Works by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,174,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $395,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,258 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 38.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,695,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,592,000 after acquiring an additional 747,316 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Water Works during the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,120,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of American Water Works by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,490,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,687,000 after acquiring an additional 477,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AWK shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on American Water Works from $139.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays initiated coverage on American Water Works in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $128.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded American Water Works from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Water Works from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.22.

American Water Works Trading Up 1.5%

American Water Works stock opened at $142.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $144.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.99. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $118.74 and a 52 week high of $155.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.73.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.01). American Water Works had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 22.44%. The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This is a positive change from American Water Works’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. American Water Works’s payout ratio is currently 60.29%.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.5 million active customers. The company serves residential customers; commercial customers, including food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers; fire service and private fire customers; industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining, and production operations; public authorities comprising government buildings and other public sector facilities, such as schools and universities; and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems.